The invention relates generally to vehicular body extensions such as fender flares and other types of add-on devices which are mounted on a vehicle to change its external dimensions, contours and appearance.
Vehicular body extensions such as fender flares are installed on vehicles to enhance and personalize the appearance of the vehicle. Fender flares can also be used to make a vehicle street legal by extending the fenders outwardly to cover wide or tall tires that extend beyond the normal wheel well openings.
Most fender flares are elongated, molded strips, generally arcuate in shape and made of heavy-gauge plastic. Flares are usually custom-designed to fit a particular brand and model vehicle. The inner arcuate edge of the flare usually matches the shape of the wheel opening of the fender and the outer edge of the flare generally conforms to the shape of the inner edge. As a result, most flares have an elongate, curved shape. When installed on a vehicle, conventional fender flares form a protruding ridge which extends along the edge of the wheel opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,608 illustrates a fender flare designed for attachment along the inturned flange of a vehicle fender. The flare extends from its line of attachment along the wheel opening flange outwardly away from the fender and curves back over the fender to cover the margin of the wheel opening. At its outer edge, the fender flare in U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,608 meets the exterior surface of the vehicle fender at an abrupt obtuse angle. As a result, the flare has the appearance of a high-relief contoured ridge which stands out from the fender.
It would be desirable to provide a new and original type of vehicular body extension capable of personalizing the appearance of a vehicle by adding outwardly-flaring contours which are different in appearance from prior art fender flares. In particular, it would be desirable to provide vehicle body extensions in the vicinity of the wheel openings which subtly blend with the exterior body panels of the vehicle to simulate custom body work. One feature of prior art fender flares is that they do not transition smoothly to the surrounding vehicular body panels. Instead, they appear as angular ridges added to the vehicle immediately adjacent the wheel openings.
A limitation associated with prior art fender flares is that if the flare is too wide, it will encounter and interfere with auxiliary access doors such as fuel filler openings, which are often in relatively close proximity to the wheel openings. It would be advantageous to have an improved vehicle body extension which can be wide enough to provide a smooth visual transition between the flare and surrounding exterior fender surfaces on which it is mounted without interfering with the operation of access doors such as the fuel filler door.
It would be an additional advantage to provide a vehicular body extension system which incorporates a plurality of fender flare extension units, one for each fender on the vehicle, and which also includes a unifying molding strip for extending between the extension units on each side of the vehicle.
Finally, it would be advantageous to provide a fender flare extension unit which physically and visually joins with a vehicle bumper to provide a smooth transition therebetween.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a vehicle body extension for mounting on an exterior fender surface of a vehicle, in the region surrounding a wheel opening of the vehicle. The extension comprises a fender flare extension unit in the form of a contoured sheet-like body for mounting adjacent a vehicle wheel opening. The extension unit has an inner edge which generally conforms to the shape of the wheel opening and an outer edge which is non-conforming to the shape of the wheel opening and which fits generally conformingly against selected exterior surfaces of a vehicle fender. The contour of the sheet-like body includes a protuberant region adjacent the inner edge, a shoulder region extending from the protuberant region toward the outer edge, a reverse-turned region between the shoulder and selected portions of the outer edge, and a non-protuberant border flange region immediately adjacent the outer edge. Thus configured, the extension unit, when mounted on a vehicle, provides a smooth visual transition between the exterior surfaces of the vehicle fender which are immediately adjacent the outer edge of the extension unit, and the protuberant region immediately adjacent the inner edge.
In its preferred form, a plurality of fender flare extension units are provided, one for each fender. Each unit preferably has rectilinear peripheral edge segments which encompass major portions of the length of the outer edge. The rectilinear segments include a generally straight, horizontal segment encompassing a major portion of the uppermost edge of the unit, and a generally straight vertical segment encompassing a major portion of the part of the outer edge which is closest to a passenger door of the vehicle. The resultant shape provided by the rectilinear segments gives the extension unit a generally squared-off appearance along major portions of its outer edge.
On vehicles which include an access port on the fender through which fuel is supplied to the vehicle, the extension unit for such a fender preferably includes an access opening formed in the sheet-like body of the unit in registration with the fuel filler port to allow access through the extension unit to the port. An exterior access door is mountable on the extension unit to enclose the access opening and cover the fuel filler port.
Finally, in its preferred form, the vehicle body extension includes right-side and left-side molding strips in the form of elongate, rigid members mountable on the vehicle extending along and covering the rocker panels beneath the passenger doors. The molding strips extend between the extension units mounted on the forward and rear fenders on each side of the vehicle.